World

Thousands to Join 'Restore the Fourth' Anti-NSA Rallies

Thousands of Americans will fogo the traditional Fourth of July backyard barbecue or beach trip this week, instead choosing to join nationwide rallies against recently revealed National Security Agency surveillance programs.

The protests are being organized by Restore the Fourth, a 23-day-old organization that spawned on Reddit in reaction to the NSA revelations. Restore the Fourth's long-term goal is ending what its members consider the NSA's unconstitutional surveillance regime and reinstating the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

According to Doug MacArthur, a member of Restore the Fouth's national-level board, this week's protests are intended to spread awareness and build an organizational infrastructure.

"I think if you are on social media right now and political blogs, this might seem like it's an issue that's all over the political blogs," said MacArthur, who's also a moderator on Reddit's r/news. "But if you turn on CNN or Fox or MSNBC, you'll see that a lot of the more mainstream channels aren't covering this as much as you might be assuming. So I really think it's important we get more citizens aware of this issue."

"But that's just the first step,"added MacArthur. "When it comes to boycotts and legal action and political lobbying, we definitely want to do that. But the plan right now is to focus on promotion between now and the fourth, then use the promotion and the infrastructure we set up doing promotion to take more long-term action after that."

MacArthur expects between 10,000 and 20,000 people in total to show up to the protests planned in cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. That would make it the biggest street demonstration dealing with technology since last year's protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act.

"There are some people on the left saying we're an offshoot of the Tea Party and there are people on the right saying we're an offshoot of Occupy, and whenever someone brings either of those things to my attention I say, 'no we're not, we're an offshoot of both of them and an offshoot of neither of them,'" said MacArthur.

"We welcome both of them and anyone else who wants to help restore the Fourth Amendment," he added.

Restore the Fourth has the support of several top privacy and press freedom advocacy organizations, including Free Press, Mozilla, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and ColorOfChange.org.

"Right now, our rights to connect and communicate are in serious jeopardy," said Craig Aaron, President and CEO of Free Press, in a Tuesday call with reporters about Restore the Fourth.

"I don't think we should believe those who suggest that the American people don't care about this scandal," Aaron said. "Those pushing that line are just hoping that people won't find out what's really going on. And as we learn this week about the unchecked surveillance and corporate collusion, the outcry is only going to grow louder and louder."

The ground-level action will be amplified online by collective action organized through the Internet Defense League, a collection of privacy-minded web organizations set up in the wake of the SOPA protests. IDL members, including Reddit, Wordpress, Mozilla and others, will display this anti-NSA banner on their website on July 4. More than 500,000 Internet users have already signed a petition on StopWatching.Us calling for Congress to fully disclose details about the NSA surveillance programs.

"The NSA programs that have been exposed are blatantly unconstitutional, and have a detrimental effect on free speech and freedom of press worldwide," said Tiffiniy Cheng, of the Internet Defense League and Fight for the Future. "This is going to be our biggest protest since SOPA, and it should be no surprise. You can’t disregard people’s privacy, invade their personal lives on a daily basis, and not expect them to fight back."

Would you take to the streets in a protest NSA surveillance? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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